Chapter 143: At the Age of 9, She Had a True Pillar of Support

Chapter 143: Chapter 143: At the Age of 9, She Had a True Pillar of Support

The old man filled the teacup, naturally noticing her expression. It seemed Julian had never mentioned it, so it wasn’t his place to elaborate.

"Back then, Julian Sinclair was hailed as the foremost prodigy of Kyoro. He was exceptional in both looks and talent. It’s a pity... the heavens are jealous of genius, and some people simply couldn’t stand to see him shine. In the end, the once-unparalleled scholar met his curtain call."

"I wonder how Julian is doing now?"

Rian Sinclair looked at the old man. There was a faint glimmer of tears in his eyes. She fell silent for a moment before replying in a muffled voice, "He’s dead. He passed away four years ago, in the summer."

Listening to the heaviness in her voice, the old man realized that four years ago, this girl would have been only seventeen.

At the thought of Julian Sinclair’s premature departure, he let out a long sigh. "The heavens truly are jealous of genius."

Seeing the profound regret etched into the old man’s features, Rian ultimately swallowed the questions she wanted to ask. She had too many things she wanted to know, but she didn’t even know where to begin.

She was also afraid of dredging up a past the old man might not want to revisit. Her master had accompanied her for most of her life, yet he had never uttered a single word about his history. He was a man of unyielding pride; he would rather bury all his bitterness and tears deep in his heart than share even a fraction of his story.

The old man remained silent for a long time. In the end, he suppressed all the words he wanted to say, reducing them to a drawn-out sigh.

Rian took a sip of tea, tamping down all the emotions welling up inside her. Respectfully, she raised her cup to the old man. "Please, have some tea, sir."

Watching her actions, the old man was once again reminded of the Julian Sinclair of the past. What a shame. Julian could have been world-renowned, but he ended up with a tarnished reputation. Even now, he had yet to return home.

The old man raised his cup in a silent toast, then drank the Tieguanyin tea. There was no point in talking about the past now. After all, the man was already dead.

Ronan Ford pursed his thin lips. He could more or less guess who they were talking about. Julian Sinclair had been very famous in upper-class circles back in the day, a name known even to their younger generation. However, following Julian’s departure, the family had gradually fallen into decline.

Julian had been the designated heir, but after an incident involving political and business circles, Mr. Sinclair had stripped him of his status. Facing universal condemnation, Julian was forced to relocate to Basilia. Some things happened during that time, and all news of him vanished without a trace.

Afterward, the Sinclair family deteriorated day by day until they completely disappeared from upper-class circles.

Rian sipped her Tieguanyin tea. For the time being, she didn’t want to investigate the truth about her master. The old man had longed for his family until the very day he died.

The old man conversed with her for a long time. Finally, he asked Ronan to drive Rian back.

Leaving the office, she once again got into the SUV that had brought her there. Rian turned her face toward the window. The scenery outside blurred past at breakneck speed, fleeting images that ultimately dissolved from her mind.

She leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. Memories of her time with her master played in her mind. That period had been the brightest splash of color in her childhood.

When their parents passed away when they were young, the village adhered to the custom that one shouldn’t attend a wedding uninvited, but should always help at a funeral without being asked. Thus, with the help of the villagers, the young siblings managed to handle their parents’ funeral arrangements.

Afterward, Rian took Ash Sinclair under her wing. Looking at her younger brother, who was three years her junior, and hearing him timidly call her "Sister," she ultimately couldn’t bear the thought of abandoning him.

She held the hand of the four-year-old Ash throughout the funeral. He didn’t cry or make a fuss, but when he finally saw that his living, breathing parents had been reduced to a single black-and-white photograph resting on the altar, his eyes uncontrollably reddened. He was small, but he understood that the parents who had pampered and loved him would never again call him their little Ash.

Losing her parents at such a young age ultimately fostered a somewhat withdrawn personality in Rian. Without her parents’ guidance, she didn’t know how to discipline Ash. She tried very hard to control her temper, knowing she shouldn’t lash out arbitrarily, but there was one time when she finally lost control and hit him.

That incident left a deep impression on him. From then on, even though Ash was young, he learned to hide his thoughts deep in his heart. As a result, whenever Ash encountered a problem later on, he refused to talk about it, keeping everything bottled up. Deep down, he was also afraid of her, his older sister.

Therefore, she subsequently poured all her emotions into her work. Although she was young, some people couldn’t resist the cheap child labor and hired Rian. So, she gritted her teeth and worked incessantly, using excessive labor to numb her feelings.

Later, when she was nine, Rian admitted she had been scheming and calculating. After observing Julian Sinclair for a while, she decided to rely on him to learn knowledge she might otherwise never encounter in her lifetime. Fortunately, her master likely hadn’t seen through her calculations—or perhaps he had taken pity on her—and accepted her as his apprentice.

And just like that, at the age of nine, Rian found a true pillar of support.

Her master taught her a great deal. Saying he knew everything from astronomy to geography was an understatement. He possessed a vast ocean of knowledge and imparted much of it to her—enough that she could use it to survive once she stepped into society.

Her master was also incredibly smart. So smart that Rian once suspected he had seen through her scheming from the very beginning.

Later on, she realized the truth. How could someone with such a brilliant mind and profound erudition not have seen through it? He simply chose not to expose her. Back then, Rian had seriously doubted herself. She had played her part so flawlessly; how had her master seen right through her at a single glance?

When she was ten, her master smiled and rubbed her head, saying,

"Ria, you’ve just experienced too much—so much that you’re terrified of getting hurt. That’s why you wrap yourself up in a cocoon, much like a butterfly in its early life. But the truth is, you’re very smart, Ria. I’ve always believed there will come a moment when you break out of your cocoon and become a butterfly.

"When that time comes, you’ll be able to soar freely across the vast heavens and earth, and no one will be able to stop you. However, after you become a butterfly, you will also encounter increasing dangers.

"If you are willing to live an ordinary life, then according to the karma I’ve taught you, you will live out your days in peace. But once you showcase your strengths, cause and effect will take hold. Your excellence will threaten the interests of certain people.

"Those people are truly wicked. They are wicked enough to strangle a child in the cradle the moment they reveal extraordinary talents, ensuring they never get ahead in life—or never have a life at all."

Rian had experienced the truth of these words a long time ago.

At the age of seven, she had been kidnapped. Right after her parents’ death, on the way to The Golden Triangle, she had met Jasper Rivers, who was five years her senior.

At the time, he was only twelve. Unlike the twenty-six-year-old Jasper, whose emotions were unpredictable and impossible to read, the twelve-year-old Jasper couldn’t hide what he felt. He displayed his emotions very clearly, his eyes brimming with ruthless malice.

The thing Rian remembered most vividly from that time was the sentence Jasper had spat at her. His eyes were full of disdain, and his words were as sharp as an executioner’s blade. "Your expression makes me sick. It’s so utterly hypocritical."

What kind of expression had she been wearing back then?